MTFCA Forum

I have the background paint on my plate. What is the best way to paint depressed letters? They will be white. [/size]

I know the photo is a tricky one but the letters and numbers are depressed.

Have a local professional sign painter or pin striper fill in the numbers by hand.

My dad is a license plate collector. When he restores a plate, he does the background himself but has a very talented person who is both a professional sign painter and pin striper paint the embossed numbers and letters by hand. I realize an embossed plate is not the the same as your "depressed" plate but it should be no problem for a sign painter or pin striper.

Thanks Eric, sounds like a great idea! jw

I wondered what the depressed lettering was (referred to as debossed) so I did some google searching. The first plate was redish brown, obviously a restoration attempt, was similar to several other "restorations". The purple/blue plates were from auction sites. The color was also confirmed from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_r ... _of_Nevada. You best decide the color of your plate.
The pictures of the purple plates show the the edges/sides of the debossed lettering was painted up to the flat. You could paint the hole thing white and the fill in the debossed letters and border with clay and then role the final color
The following purple color is what I would use as Gospel to be authentic
https://www.worthpoint.com/inventory/se ... ategories=

Steve, I was thinking along the same lines. Would it be a bit more precise to use a silk screen and squegee to swipe the colour coat over the plate?

Allan from down under.

Steve, had another thought. Perhaps the silk screen could act as a barrier to the nap on the roller dumping paint into the depressed numbers, while still supplying the colour to the rest of the plate.

Allan from down under.

Wrong color
Dark purple with off white letters
State archives might be able locate who and what car this plate was on